Petshark: Talking Stick

Entries with the tag: ray ratto

Brad Stuart hasn't given anyone reason to regret that he's a Shark again, but last night he made a particular splash with some extra gritty play and a charming grin to show off the dental work he got during the game. Stuart made an excellent ambassador for a team that had just scrambled to a shootout win after dropping a two goal lead.

The Sharks were outshot (33-22 in regulation), out chanced, and generally out-played through much of the game, but how can you be angry when Stuey lost a tooth and hardly missed a beat? Not to mention the short-handed goal from Adam Burish (which Stuart also made possible) and Scott Gomez finally scoring. The Sharks still make me wonder.

After last night’s game, Drew Remenda and Ray Ratto had a disagreement on television. It distracted somewhat from the awful fact that the Sharks lost again when they should not have:

Chris Sampang ‏ @chrissampang: “There’s something sad when the entire #SJSharks fanbase is reduced to “Ratto was right” or “Drew was right,” instead of celebrating a clinch”

Of course neither Ratto nor Remenda is right, not really. I sympathize with both views, and I think both could result from a genuine interest in seeing the Sharks do well. You can watch the video of the smackdown here. I’ve transcribed the basics at the end of this post.

None of us out here can know whether the Sharks can’t do it or won’t do it. Neither can I know how much Ratto or Remenda care about how the Sharks do, or how representative they are of their respective constituencies. There are a whole lot of words flying around that don’t tell us a great deal.

We certainly can’t predict what the Sharks will do in the end. I didn’t have much to say about last night’s game, couldn’t muster the energy to pick a side in the R-R fight. I still don’t, but for reasons unrelated to hockey, I was listening to Billie Holiday’s Don’t Explain.

The Sharks have not forgotten that stretch of frustrating losses and uninspired play they called a funk. They are not clear of it yet:

“We haven’t done anything yet,” Thornton said. “We’ve got six games left, and we’ve got to win some games just to get into the playoffs. It’s great getting all the way up to third, but we still have to keep going and working hard every night.” -Mercury News

When I wrote about the word “funk,” I didn’t really forget about another, fairly conspicuous definition of the word, but I did omit it, planning to bring it up again if the situation called for it. I don’t know if now really is the time but just in case I don’t get another chance….